A Momentous Occasion

An indefinite number of years ago on this very day, my mother was born. Lucy J. Wall, now Lucy J. Jackson, the greatest mother in modern history.

Being the mathematical genius that she is, here's a link in my mother's honour to an explanation of the "Birthday Attack" cryptographic method. It's actually a pretty compelling example of the way that maths break out of that box I'm always trying to put them in. Mom, you didn't convince me to love maths as much as I love words, but I was still above average on the quantitative section of the GRE all these years after grade 12, so you must have done something right!

It turns out that Ernest Borgnine was also born on the 24th of January, and that the Emperor Caligula died on this day in A.D. 41 (as did Winston Churchill in 1965.)

That's not what's important, though. What's important is that my Mom is amazing!
Happy Birthday!